


Intersectionality in the Harry Potter series

by booksblanketsandtea



Series: My Essays [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Essay, non-fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2018-12-15 14:30:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11807862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/booksblanketsandtea/pseuds/booksblanketsandtea
Summary: An analysis of how ideas of race, class and species intersect within the Harry Potter series.(written for one of my Uni classes)





	Intersectionality in the Harry Potter series

 

 

The _Harry Potter_ series, written by J.K. Rowling, follows the adventures of a young wizard as he attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he faces off against many different challenges and eventually battles against his arch enemy, the evil Lord Voldemort. Throughout the series, Rowling incorporates a multitude of allegories for different forms of discrimination, the _Harry Potter_ novels commenting on a variety of social issues. More often than not these examples of discrimination are intersectional in nature, with categories such as race, class, and species lending to one another and influencing the way Rowling depicts her characters and the world around them. The term ‘intersectionality’, coined by activist Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, is used to describe the “critical insight that race, class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, nation, ability, and age operate not as unitary, mutually exclusive entities, but as reciprocally constructing phenomena that in turn shape complex social inequalities.” (Collins) Intersectionality addresses the way that multiple identities overlap and come together to create a whole that is different from the separate component identities. J.K. Rowling’s _Harry Potter_ novels establish a world in which race plays an important role, though it is depicted through issues surrounding “blood status” as opposed to the colour of a character’s skin. Class is also discussed, through the economic and social standing of various characters, as well as how they are treated under Magical Law within the universe. The way these two topics intersect, not only with each other but with the depiction of Species within _Harry Potter,_ allows Rowling to explore these social issues in a unique way that is more in-depth than at first glance, but that manages to keep the tone of the series light enough for the young target audience.

 

 

Class in the _Harry Potter_ series is often depicted through the descriptions of characters and their belongings; wealthy characters such as Harry or Draco Malfoy have more desirable belongings, such as the latest broomstick or fine dress robes. In comparison, Harry’s lower-class friend Ron Weasley bemoans that he has “Bill’s old robes, Charlie’s old wand and Percy’s old rat” (PS, 75). The use of objects to portray wealth lends itself very well to an audience living in a consumer driven world, and the reader cannot help but covet Harry’s prized possessions alongside the protagonist. Rowling avoids portraying Harry’s newfound wealth negatively however, and his ‘rags to riches’ tale as he goes from unwanted, unspoiled orphan to a position of financial stability and independence is one that resounds with the reader – and indeed, mirrors Rowling’s own life experiences. Despite his large inheritance, Harry does not flaunt or gloat over his good fortune like Draco Malfoy does, and Rowling “invites readers to attend to class tensions by contrasting the aristocratic Malfoys' snobbery with the Weasleys' strained finances.” (Wallace and Pugh) However, as a Pureblood family, the Weasleys still rank higher in society than some others, despite their poverty. “Another instance in which social class issues are portrayed in the _Harry Potter_ books comes with the appointment of Professor Lupin”, who is introduced in _Prisoner of Azkaban._ He is initially described as wearing “extremely shabby” robes and owning a battered briefcase with peeling letters _._ It is later revealed that the reason for Lupin’s lower-class status is that he is a werewolf – and as such, is loathed by society, “unable to find paid work because of what [he is]”(PoA, 261). Lupin’s status as a member of a non-human species influences his class status; this intersection between species and class is a key aspect of Lupin’s character. Wizarding society views werewolves with dread and disgust because of the fear of contamination – a wizard is turned into a werewolf through the exchange of bodily fluids via a bite. Rowling has said that Lupin’s lycanthropy was “a metaphor for people's reactions to illness and disability"(Fraser, 40), and in particular the fear of AIDS. As a non-human being, Lupin’s place in society is far lower than a full blooded human witch or wizard, and because of his status as a werewolf he is often unable to find work. The prejudice surrounding werewolves is one that is deeply entrenched in the magical community; they are not only hated informally by society, they are treated as second class citizens by the Ministry of Magic due to their species – this negative treatment even goes so far as to require werewolves be signed onto a register that keeps track of lycanthropes. As well as this, prior to Albus Dumbledore becoming Headmaster of Hogwarts, werewolf adolescents were denied a formal magical education, which puts them at an even greater disadvantage when competing to live in a world that generally regards them with distrust at best and outright abhorrence at worst. Indeed, Remus Lupin was the first werewolf to be accepted into Hogwarts, and the description of Lupin in _Prisoner of Azkaban_ shows that not even a decent education was enough to overcome societal prejudices and allow him to rise above his almost predestined poverty and lower-class status.

 

Werewolves are not the only non-human species to be treated like second class citizens in the _Harry Potter_ series. In _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ , written by Rowling under the pseudonym ‘Newt Scamander’ (a famous magi-zoologist in the wizarding world), the reader is given some history on the treatment of ‘Beings’ versus ‘Beasts’. A ‘Being’, Scamander explains, is “a creature worthy of legal rights and a voice in the governance of the magical world” – a ‘beast’ on the other hand is treated simply as an animal. It took the magical councils a number of attempts to come to a working definition of what constitutes a ‘Being’, but in 1811 it was decided that a Being was "any creature that has sufficient intelligence to understand the laws of the magical community and to bear part of the responsibility in shaping those laws"( _Fantastic Beasts,_ xii). A ‘Beast’ was any creature that could not fit the definition of ‘Being’. However, even once this consensus had been reached, there was still controversy and complications and “creatures that are part human and part animal, such as centaurs and merpeople, have switched between Being and Beast several times.”(Batty) Despite both being at least partially humanoid and sufficiently intelligent, both Centaurs and Merpeople in the _Harry Potter_ series are often defined as Beasts rather than Beings. Indeed, Scamander explains that in one point in time when Centaurs were considered Beings and Merpeople were considered Beasts, the Centaurs refused to attend any of the council meetings to show their solidarity with their fellow human-animal hybrid. Since then, centaurs have opted to remain classified as beasts rather than be involved in Magical society – indeed, Rowling depicts the centaurs in the _Harry Potter_ series as being very aloof and preferring to stay removed from wizard-kind, with one notable exception. Harry first comes across the centaurs living in the Forbidden Forest in _Philosopher’s Stone_ , when one of the younger centaurs, Firenze, comes to his rescue. Centaurs “straddl[e] the line between humanity and nature. Within the context of Rowling’s series, they are also marked as Other and are consequently perceived at times as dark, bestial, and even amoral.”(Harmon) Harry experiences this first hand when another centaur, Bane, yells at Firenze for allowing Harry to ride on his back like a “common mule”(PS 187), the older centaur even kicking his equine legs in anger. Bane’s anger is touched on again later in the series when it is implied that he has attacked Firenze, when the younger centaur becomes the Hogwarts Divination Professor in _Order of the Phoenix_. Rowling depicts the first lesson with Firenze as a learning experience for the students – not just in divining the stars, but in interacting with what is legally considered a Beast but should, in all rights, be classified as a Being:

 

> “Did Hagrid breed you, like the Thestrals?” asked Dean eagerly.
> 
> Firenze turned his head very slowly to face Dean, who seemed to realise at once that he had said something very offensive.
> 
> “I didn’t – I meant – sorry,” he finished in a hushed voice.
> 
> “Centaurs are not the servants or playthings of humans,” said Firenze quietly. There was a pause, then Parvati raised her hand again.
> 
> “Please, sir… why have the other centaurs banished you?”
> 
> “Because I have agreed to work for Professor Dumbledore,” said Firenze. “They see this as a betrayal of our kind.”

 

This interaction with Firenze relies heavily on the visible differences between the human witches and wizards in the classroom and the human-horse hybrid teaching them. Harry and his fellow students have interacted with a ‘Beast’ before, when they had Remus Lupin as their Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. However, as a werewolf, Lupin’s true species lies hidden, dormant behind a harmless human appearance until the full moon rises and the transformation occurs. Firenze has no such façade and the Otherness of his species is immediately apparent. This causes some confusion for the students, who expect to be dealing with some bestial unknown, as Firenze’s legal classification might suggest. That they are instead faced with an intelligent, patient creature that is – for all intents and purposes – a Being, challenges the students preconceived notions both of species and of the lower social classes that accompany being legally considered a Beast. The fact that Bane and the other centaurs are intolerant of humans seems to be based solely on the fact that humans have trouble seeing centaurs – which are both human and animal in appearance – as anything other than beasts. Nearing the end of _Order of_ _the Phoenix_ , the racist, speciesist Professor Umbridge is attacked by the centaurs living in the Forbidden Forest after calling them “half-breeds” of “near human intelligence” (OotP, 665). Even Harry’s friend Hermione Granger, who is known for her compassion and intelligence, inadvertently offends the centaurs by explaining that she had hoped they would help them by “driving [Umbridge] off.”(OotP, 666) The centaurs are incensed at the thought that they might have been used, proclaiming “we are a race apart and proud to be so. We will not permit you to walk from here, boasting that we did your bidding!”(OotP, 667). The centaurs are aware of the way their species and class in Wizarding society intersect to cast them as second-class citizens, and when presented with humans who confirm this viewpoint that humans are superior – even unconsciously or inadvertently – the centaurs react angrily, sometimes violently. One of the centaur’s yells “we are an ancient people who will not stand wizard invasions and insults! We do not recognise your laws, [and] we do not acknowledge your superiority.” Rather than deal with being treated either as a second-class citizen, or – at times – simply as animals, the centaurs refuse to acknowledge or participate in the society that believes them to be inferior to humans. They deal with the lack of influence over the laws of the society they would otherwise be a part of by simply ignoring the laws they had no part in creating, and remove themselves to remote areas to govern themselves apart from other Beings in Magical Society.

 

The ideas of Class and Species in the _Harry Potter_ series also intersect with race. Rowling creates a world in which the Magical community is split into different categories depending on their heritage. These categories are: ‘Pureblood’ (this term is used for witches and wizards who have no Muggles (non-magic people) in their family tree), ‘Half-blood’ (used for someone who have both Muggle and Magical ancestors), and ‘Muggle-born’ or ‘Mudblood’ as a derogatory term (used for a Magical person who comes from a non-magical family). There are also Squibs, which are non-magical people born into a Wizarding family, and mix-bloods, which covers the children of a mixed species couple (such as Hagrid, who is a half-giant). Within the Magical community, “there is a hierarchy, often based on social class and profession and related to the quality of bloodlines.” (Heilman and Gregory) The main plotline builds on tensions created by blood purists believing that anyone of non-magical descent is inferior and should not be invited into the wizarding world, thus creating an intersection between race and class in which those who belong to a ‘lesser’ blood status are less likely to belong to a higher social class. Rowling’s _Harry Potter_ “series enacts a great ‘race war,’ in which the heroes fight against those wizards who possess a vision of racial purity.”(Ostry) Rowling depicts Muggle and Magical peoples as not just being from different cultures but being from different races – and, in the eyes of the pureblood elitists, perhaps even from different species. The focus on blood is key here, and “the theme of blood as lineage [is] analogous to race in our world.” (Gupta). Blood in the fantasy genre is almost always significant – it is often portrayed as taboo and holding mystic energy. Rowling takes this common trope and develops it into an allegory not only for racism, but for magical power. Lord Voldemort, Harry’s nemesis and the inhuman face of the pureblood elitism within the series, is reborn through a dark ritual that uses the “bone of the father… flesh of the servant… [and] blood of the enemy.” Voldemort, via his sycophantic follower, Wormtail, forcibly uses Harry’s blood to form a new body. This grants him the same protection that guards Harry – a magical defence created from the sacrifice of Lily Potter to save her son. Dumbledore remarks later in the series that Voldemort chose Harry over another _because_ of their shared blood status – they are both Half-bloods, and that was significant enough to Voldemort that he believed Harry would bring about his prophesised defeat. This use of blood in Rowling’s series as a means to power perhaps explains the history of the pureblood elitists – perhaps they perceive their pure wizarding blood to be the source of their magical power. Regardless of the reasoning, the manner that pureblood elitists treat Muggles or Muggle-borns means that blood as an allegory for racism is all too clear in Rowling’s writing. Harry’s friend Hermione, who is Muggle-born, is often called a “Mud-blood” by Draco Malfoy; the term is “in short, the N-word for the wizarding world.”(Ostry) Voldemort clearly views Muggles and “Mud-bloods” as being lesser than wizard-kind. He and his followers, known as Death Eaters, dehumanise those without ‘pure’ blood to the point that it almost appears as though they believe them to be a lesser species rather than a different variation of human being. At the beginning of the final instalment in the _Harry Potter_ series, _The Deathly Hallows_ , Voldemort tortures and kills Professor Charity Burbage, who taught Muggle Studies at Hogwarts. Voldemort explains in disgust that, according to a defence of Muggle-borns she wrote for the wizarding newspaper, _The Daily Prophet_ , Burbage “would have us all mate with Muggles.”(DH, 18) Voldemort’s use of the word “mate” heavily implies that he finds Muggles to be a lesser species, more animalistic and less developed than the ‘human’ magical community. This is ironic, considering his own carefully concealed status as a Half-blood, but Voldemort’s dehumanisation and animalisation of Muggles and Muggle-borns allows for a strange form of intersection between race and species – if only in how the pureblood elitists view those they deem lesser than themselves. Sadly, this sort of behaviour is not unique to _Harry Potter_ ; throughout history, ethnicities have been specifically targeted and subjugated by other races. When this happens, the subjugated race has often been the target of propaganda that dehumanises them, that reverts their status to that of an animal – because it is perhaps more morally problematic to treat a fellow human being so poorly, but it is less so to heap that negative treatment upon an animal. According to Nick Haslam, “dehumanization is arguably most often mentioned in relation to ethnicity, race, and related topics such as immigration and genocide” - perhaps the example that most immediately springs to mind is the dehumanisation of the Jewish people in Nazi Germany, where propaganda often likened the Jewish people to rats. The dehumanisation of Muggles and Muggle-borns by those who believe that purity of blood is an indication of superiority allows for a view of the intersection between race and species that closely mirrors the way humans have wrongly animalised other humans in the past in real life. This builds upon the theme of racism depicted through blood in _Harry Potter_ and though the intersection between race and species is based upon the pure blood elitist viewpoint, it is important to recognise it – and the instances of it happening in the world’s histories – so that such actions can be recognised and condemned, just as they are in Rowling’s novels.

 

The _Harry Potter_ series depicts and explores the intersections of race, species and class in a variety of ways, from how a werewolf’s species influences their socio-economic class, to how blood can be seen as a means of discussing both race and the forced species intersection that occurs when humans are animalised to allow subjugation – and many more. Rowling’s series is clearly intended as a commentary on the negative aspects of society that mirror these in-book issues, and in particular her work declares a condemnation of racism, classism, elitism and the process of ‘othering’ and dehumanisation. Through Harry’s eyes the reader is “asked to condemn the racism of the wizarding world—not only the distinction between ‘Mudbloods’ and ‘pure bloods’ voiced by its more extreme members, but also its limitations of the rights of sentient others." (Horne). In creating a world in which clear allegories discuss the depicted repercussions of classism and the unjust bigotry of racism, Rowling guides the – often young – reader as they explore social issues in the real world through the lens of the fantasy genre, and as good triumphs over evil and Harry is able to live ‘happily ever after’, the reader is perhaps left a little more aware of the battles being fought in their own world.

**Author's Note:**

> Bibliography
> 
> "Scamander, Newt". Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. London: Bloomsbury, 2001. Book.  
> Batty, Holly. "Harry Potter and the (Post)human Animal Body." Bookbird 53.1 (2015): 24-37. Journal Article (online access). .
> 
> Carey, Brycchan. "Hermione and the House-Elves: The Literary and Historical Contexts of J.K. Rowling's Antislavery Campaign." Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays. Ed. Giselle Liza Anatol. London: Praeger Publishers, 2003. 103-115. Book (essay).
> 
> Colbert, David. The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter. Kent Town: Wakefield Press, 2001. Book.
> 
> Collins, Patricia Hill. "Intersectionality's Definitional Dilemmas." Annual Review of Sociology 41 (2015): 1-20. Journal Article (online access). .
> 
> Dendle, Peter. "Monsters, Creatures, and Pets at Hogwarts Animal Stewardship in the World of Harry Potter." Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter. Ed. Elizabeth E. Heilman. 2nd edition. Taylor and Francis Inc, 2008. 163-176. Book (online access). .
> 
> Fraser, Lindsey. Conversations with J. K. Rowling. Scholastic, 2001. Biography.
> 
> Gupta, Susan. Re-Reading Harry Potter. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003. Book.
> 
> Harmon, James M. J. "Forbidden Forests and Forbidden Spaces: Reevaluating 'The Other' in Harry Potter." Legilimens! Perspectives in Harry Potter Studies. Ed. Christopher E. Bell. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013. Book (online access). .
> 
> Haslam, Nick. "Dehumanization: An Integrative Review." Personality and Social Psychology Review 10.3 (2006): 252-264. Journal Article (online access). .
> 
> Hayles, Diane. "Harry Potter and “The Question of the Animal'." PAN: Philosophy, Activism, Nature 8 (2011): 49-54. Journal Article (online access). .
> 
> Hayles, Diane. "Nonhuman Animals, Inclusion, and Belonging in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone." Knowing Their Place?: Identity and Space in Children's Literature. Ed. Terri Doughty and Dawn Thompson. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011. 187-199. Book (online access). .
> 
> Heilman, Elizabeth E. and Anne E. Gregory. "Images of the Privileged Insider and Outcast Outsider." Harry Potter's World. Ed. Elizabeth E. Heilman. New York: RoutledgeFalmer, 2003. Book.
> 
> Horne, Jackie C. "Harry and the Other: Answering the Race Question in J.K. Rowling's 'Harry Potter'." The Lion and the Unicorn 34.1 (2010): 76-104. Journal Article (online access). .
> 
> McCall, Leslie. "The Complexity of Intersectionality." Signs 30.3 (2005): 1771-1800. Journal Article (online access). .
> 
> Ostry, Elaine. "Accepting Mudbloods: The Ambivalent Social Vision of J.K. Rowling's Fairy Tales." Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays. Ed. Giselle Liza Anatol. London: Praeger Publishers, 2003. 89-101. Book (essay).
> 
> Park, Julia. "Class and Socioeconomic Identity in Harry Potter's England." Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays. Ed. Giselle Liza Anatol. London: Praeger Publishers, 2003. 179-189. Book (essay).
> 
> Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Bloomsbury, 1998. Book (novel).  
> —. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Bloomsbury, 2007. Book (novel).  
> —. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Bloomsbury, 2000. Book (novel).  
> —. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Bloomsbury, 2005. Book (novel).  
> —. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Bloomsbury, 2003. Book (novel).  
> —. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Bloomsbury, 1997. Book (novel).  
> —. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Bloomsbury, 1999. Book (novel).
> 
> Singer, Peter. "Speciesism and Moral Status." Metaphilosophy 40.3-4 (2009): 567-581. Journal Article (online access). .
> 
> Wallace, David L. and Tison Pugh. "Teaching English in the World: Playing with Critical Theory in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter Series." The English Journal 96.3 (2007): 97-100. Journal Article (online access). .


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